Nothing is going right for the Toronto Raptors, and if they have any prayer of changing that, they need more points from DeMar DeRozan, stat.
The Raptors are down 0-2 in their Eastern Conference semi-final series with the Cleveland Cavaliers, and now star point guard Kyle Lowry is questionable for Friday’s Game 3 with a sprained ankle. Cavs superstar LeBron James has throttled them – exploding for 74 points over two games – while his team has smothered DeRozan defensively, stifling Toronto’s biggest-scoring weapon.
In last year’s series between them, the Cavaliers thrashed the Raptors by a combined 50 points in the first two games in Cleveland, but then the Raps answered by winning two in Toronto. Even a single Toronto victory will be impossible unless DeRozan can battle through Cleveland’s double teams and provide more points.
The Cavs have enlisted J.R. Smith and Iman Shumpert to take turns guarding DeRozan, just as they did last round against the Indiana Pacers’ best scorer, Paul George. They blitz DeRozan with double teams that come from different directions.
“They’re into him, they’re bodying him and he’s got to vault up and make his shots and I’ve got to do a better job of getting him open looks,” Toronto coach Dwane Casey said. “It’s not like he’s not working to do it. But we’ve got to set better screens and he’s got to vault up and shoot the ball with conviction. They’re not doing anything we haven’t seen – blitzing on and off. But he has another level he can get to.”
DeRozan averaged 27 points in the regular season and 23 points in eight games in this season’s playoffs. But he shot 9-of-27 (33 per cent), averaging 13.5 points in the two games against Cleveland. He was so frustrated by the Cavaliers in Game 2 that he didn’t even score a field goal until the fourth quarter.
The all-star guard went 2-for-11 from the field Wednesday for five points. DeRozan, usually very proficient at getting to the line, shot just three free throws that night, and missed two of them.
With Smith and Shumpert smothering DeRozan defensively, his numbers are limited, and it also frees up James to conserve some of his energy on defence so he can produce more offensively. The Cleveland megastar can then roam, which creates opportunities for him to jump on steals.
“[James] doesn’t have to use as much energy to play defence,” Smith said. “That helps us because on the weak side, he can get those long rebounds, and get out and run and play the passing lanes. So it helps our team.”
After Thursday’s practice, DeRozan described the feeling of being the focal point of the Cavs’ constant defensive pressure.
“[James] can play kind of like a free safety,” DeRozan said. “You know you have to make the right pass, get it out of there.
“They do a great job of protecting the paint and also getting out to our shooters at the same time. I’m just going to go out there and try to make the right passes out of the double, trust my teammates. We missed a lot of shots. I couldn’t find a rhythm with all the doubling.”
DeRozan said that, strategically, there are things Toronto can do to overcome that defensive heat, but it will only work if the Raps shoot better. The team needs to put shooters in better spots to executive three-pointers and then just shoot, rather than trying to do too much with the ball first.
After watching the film on Thursday, DeRozan was antsy to implement modifications and try to flip the script.
“The thing that sucks the most is the idle time of waiting to see what you think you saw will work,” DeRozan said. “That’s the most frustrating part – just trying to keep the patience until we can play and just get this feeling off us.”
Follow Rachel Brady on Twitter: @RBradyGlobe
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